We buy paintings by Fletcher Martin

Fletcher Martin was born in Palisade,Colorado, the son of a small-town newspaperman who made him a journeyman printer at twelve. The family moved to towns throughout the West. He showed an early interest in art, primarily from circus posters and amateur painters. After dropping out of high school at the age of fifteen he ran away and worked as a lumberman, harvester and sailor. He discovered his artistic abilities by drawing nude pictures for his pals. He joined the Navy to get three square meals a day, became a top-notch boxer, and began painting seriously when he got out in 1926 after having worked as a mural painter's assistant. ​​

He settled in California, in Los Angeles and did many paintings of boxers, a sport that he had long been interested in. He also assisted Mexican painter Siqueiros with a large mural and created a design for a Post Office mural in Kellogg, Idaho.

He replaced Grant Wood as a teacher of art at the University of Iowa. In 1938 he began a thirty year career as visiting teacher in art schools in California including Mills College, Otis Art Institute and Claremont College. In 1943, he traveled to North Africa as artist-correspondent for Life magazine. He died in New York City in 1979.

Written and submitted by Jean Ershler Schatz, artist and researcher from Laguna Woods, California.